45. 1984 by Van Halen

 45. 1984 by Van Halen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM68ZL42hp0&list=OLAK5uy_k-Wp747MeVPu1IxzedbjSKI4X1Jiteh7w

I should probably use the title MCMLXXXIV for this entry, as that's the title on the album cover. But let's be real. People don't use Roman numerals to refer to years anymore, unless your job is writing movie and TV end credits, or if you're creating commercial graphics for the next Superbowl. I remember once being as a churchball game in which John and Vince were keeping track of the score in Roman numerals on a rolling blackboard, but I also remember there was some discussion as to what to do after the score went above 39. 

This album was released on January 9, 1984, so it is a big part of the soundtrack to that last miserable semester of high school. Since Randy had introduced me to Van Halen years before, I considered myself a big fan of the band, but not so big of one that I tried to go to the concert when they came to Pocatello in early May of 1984. I'd barely been able to get the okay from Mom and Dad to go to the Billy Joel concert, so I didn't want to push my luck with a request to blow more money on tickets to see Van Halen. Also, I never purchased this album while I was in high school because I didn't wan to have to explain to Mom why it was funny for angel babies to smoke cigarettes. Still, I heard the album plenty between it being played at school, track practice, and everywhere else. In the summer after graduation, Bill Johns asked me to go on a campout with the ward scouts as part of the "adult" leadership, and I said I would, even though I was so much older than the other boys and none of the other Arimo Mafia was going. One of the boys had a Sony Walkman and the 1984 tape. I asked if it was okay for me to listen to the album while they were off doing some merit badge stuff that I didn't need to be there for, and I must have listened to it about 10 times in a row. I felt kind of bad when the boys came back and the boy went to listen to his tape, and the batteries ran out of power. That was totally my fault, but I didn't have extra batteries for him, so he had to enjoy the sounds of nature for the rest of the campout. (Remember how Jimmy Gunter wouldn't let us bring electronic entertainment devices on campouts?)

I also remember when 1984 first came out that some of the guys at school were shocked that Eddie Van Halen was playing the synthesizer on "Jump." But Eddie learned to play the piano long before he learned to play guitar. In fact, when the Van Halen brothers were practicing instruments to form a band, Eddie was on the drums, and his brother Alex was on the guitar. But then Eddie complained about Alex's playing, and so Alex made him swap instruments. And the the rest is history. Now, having played the piano a bit myself, I was less impressed by Eddie's keyboard solo on "Jump" than my classmates. Yes, his fingers are moving pretty fast during those solos, but not nearly as fast as Billy Joel's on "Angry Young Man" or "Root Beer Rag" or "I Go to Extremes" or "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" or...but I digress. Still, I liked Eddie's synth work on "Jump" enough to figure out the opening chord progression on the piano at home.

While "Jump" was the early hit from the album--having been released as a single in December of '83--it's not actually my favorite song. That honor goes to "Panama," with "Hot for Teacher," running a close second. After that comes "Jump and "I'll Wait." I like the rest of the songs at an equal level, as they all feature Eddie's guitar pyrotechnics, which is what I like most about any Van Halen song. 

In my opinion, Dave's singing and lyrics were never at the same level of Eddie's musicianship. The only thing Dave did better than the rest of the band was wear spandex and strut/jump/dance on stage and mug for the camera and engage in hilariously goofy antics. But in the MTV '80s, that was kind of visual stage presence became super important, a fact that became painfully clear when Dave left the band and Sammy Hagar took over as the lead singer. Yes, Sammy can sing, but he just isn't as much fun to watch on stage as Diamond Dave. 

This album was the last full album for the band's original line-up, as Sammy took bass player Michael Anthony with him when he left Van Halen, and the two eventually formed Chickenfoot with Joe Satriani and Chad Smith of The Red Hot Chili Peppers fame. Dave reunited with the band for like two songs in the late '90s, and didn't rejoin for good again until 2007. Of course, when Eddie died in late 2020, that was the end of Van Halen. Wolfgang Van Halen, Eddie's son and the bass player for the group after Michael Anthony left, confirmed as much on Howard Stern's radio show, saying that Van Halen wouldn't be Van Halen without Eddie. He's right.

While I hadn't purchased the album when I was in high school, when I returned home from Sweden, I raided my brother-in-law's record collection and made a dozen or so tapes from the vinyl originals, and that's when 1984 went into the rotation of tapes I jammed out to in the black step-side Chevy pickup. And while I didn't dislike all the songs that Van Halen released after Dave left the band, I was never tempted to buy a Hagar-sung album. So for me, the sound of Van Halen is the sound of this album, with Dave singing/shouting lustful lyrics and Eddie delivering a heaping helping of infectious hooks and face-melting guitar solos, as well as a few keyboard solos just so that he can--you know--rest his fingers a little bit.